Invitation to participate

Have the research skills required for the process of scientific inquiry

Be confident with complex math and technological problem solving techniques
in the context of computer science and writing computer programs

Be able to articulate their own ideas as well as communicate with others and
work as a team

Then your school will want to participate in the
Supercomputing Challenge. The Challenge is organized and administered by Los
Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, and academic, research and high-technology
organizations. The Challenge draws teams of middle school and high school
students who learn to model important real-world problems and explore
computational approaches to their solutions.

Here are some sample questions teams might wish to answer:
Is our county going to run out of water? Does is rain more on weekends?
How does snow pack affect river flow? What effect do forest fires have
on ecosystems?
How can self-care help in the prevention of disease?
What is the likelihood that the deer population in
Bandelier will run out of grassland?

Teams from around the state participate to learn about the
challenges facing their environment, to better understand properties of the
physical universe, to look at trends in the social sciences that have
implications for their own lives, and to develop useful career preparation
skills such as teamwork, oral, written and visual communication, problem
solving, and project follow-through. After teams have selected a problem
to work on, they choose a programming language that is appropriate for the
kind of modeling and visualization they think their project requires. In
the past, some teams chose Java, Python, or C++
to implement computational models. Other teams elected to model complex
systems using agent based modeling with StarLogo TNG or NetLogo.

The Challenge Year begins with registration in September and
a Kickoff Conference in October. The year continues with an Interim report in
December, Project Evaluations in February, and Final Project Presentations and
Awards Ceremony in April at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Throughout the
year, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National
Laboratories, New Mexico State University, University of New Mexico and
technology and business companies, mentor students and teacher-sponsors to
provide initial and ongoing training in computational methods and scientific
modeling. They
evaluate project ideas, steer student teams towards successful completion of
their work, and evaluate projects at mid-term and final judging events.

Costs are minimal for students: major funding comes from the
National Labs and other businesses and individual sponsors.

As New Mexico addresses its workforce needs for the 21st
century, it has become obvious that the 9,000 plus students who have
participated in the Challenge are better prepared to plan for careers in the
high-tech industry. Colleges and employers seek the skills that Challenge
participants develop. We hope that you will encourage your students to form
teams and